Social services at centre of Britain’s worst child grooming scandal received 715 warnings but acted on barely half

‘They were blackmailing me saying that they were going to rape my family or burn my house down’: Telford victim tells of ‘whirlwind of abuse’ at hands of seven men as it’s revealed social services were warned of grooming 715 times but only acted on HALF

-Woman sold for sex daily by gang from the age of 14 has spoken about ordeal

-Had abortions, took morning after pill repeatedly but authorities didn’t step in

-Telford has the third highest number of child sexual offences recorded in the UK

-Council given 715 child sexual exploitation referrals but only half were acted on

The social services department at the centre of Britain’s worst ever child grooming scandal acted on less than half of the warnings receieved.

Figures obtained by the Mirror under freedom of information laws show Telford and Wrekin Council received 715 child sexual exploitation referrals in three years.

Only 324 of recent cases were referred.

Fewer still – 303 – were passed to its Children Abused Through Exploitation team.

A council spokesman said our figures “do not paint the whole picture”.

He added: “A referral to children’s safeguarding service is just one of a number of appropriate outcomes to a contact of this type.”

“Our analysis shows that all the contacts received a proportionate response.

“In addition to the 33% referred to Children Safeguarding Service, a further 38% were referred to another council or partner service and the remaining 29% receiving information and advice.”

Up to 1,000 children could have suffered in the Telford abuse scandal – where sex gangs targeted girls as young as 11.

The rape hell of vulnerable young girls in one town went on for a shocking 40 years.

Girls were lured from their families to be drugged, beaten and raped in an epidemic that, say victims, is still ongoing.

THREE people were murdered and two others died in tragedies linked to the scandal.

Despite similar high-profile cases in Rochdale and Rotherham, authorities in Telford ­repeatedly failed to stamp out a network of abusers.

The Mirror’s 18-month investigation has revealed abuse on unprecedented levels. We found:

*Social workers knew of abuse in the 1990s but police took a decade to launch a probe

*Council staff viewed abused and trafficked children as “prostitutes” instead of victims, according to previously unseen files

*Authorities failed to keep details of abusers from Asian communities for fear of “racism”

*Police failed to investigate one recent case five times until an MP intervened

*One victim said cops tried to stop her finding out why her abusers had not been prosecuted because they feared she would talk to us

The scale of the abuse uncovered in Telford – population 170,000 – is feared to be the most brutal and long-running of all.

The Rotherham toll was put at 1,500 – but that was in a community of 260,000.